System and method for visual exploration of subnetwork patterns in two-mode networks

ABSTRACT

A method of visualizing relationship data in a network connecting an entity of a first type with an entity of a second type is provided. The method includes detecting, within the network, a subnetwork pattern representing at least one relationship satisfying a condition, generating a visualization based on the detected subnetwork pattern. The visualization includes a first region representative of the first type of entity, a second region representative of the second type of entity, and a linking region connecting the first region to the second region and providing information about the at least one relationship satisfying the condition.

BACKGROUND Field

The present disclosure relates to data visualization systems, and morespecifically, to systems and methods of data visualization systems toanalyze networks.

Related Art

In many fields, a network may be used as abstract representations ofentities (nodes) and relationships (links between nodes). Although manynetworks may be defined as one-mode or single-mode (e.g., containing onetype of entity such as user, author, location, document, etc.), two-modenetworks (also known as bipartite graphs) may exist in many real-worldapplications (e.g., networks of employees and teams in a company,networks of authors and documents in a text corpus, networks ofcustomers and purchases of an online commerce platform). In such relatedart two-mode networks, links may exist only between different types ofnodes, which may be weighted or unweighted. For example, in a relatedart employee-team network, links may represent memberships of anemployee to a team, but there are no direct links between any twodifferent employees or two different teams.

In the related art, analysis of two-mode networks may provide valuableinsights to the systems they represent, but is usually more complex thananalysis of one-mode networks. In the related art, subnetwork patterns(e.g., a group of nodes and links that present a specific structure ormeet a specific condition) may be detected to understand the networkproperties at both local and global levels. Subnetwork patterns arediscussed in greater detail below.

Related art computational methods have been developed to discoverpatterns in two-mode networks (e.g., biclustering). Although theserelated art methods may provide some basic insights to the networkstructures, as the size of networks grows large, the analysis becomesmore complicated. For example, many patterns may have overlapping nodesthat indicate key players in the network, which may be difficult to spotwithout an effective representation of the results. Further, related artpattern finding algorithms may have deficiencies requiring manualinspection. For example, using related art algorithms may not detecthigh-level patterns indicated by multiple nodes being shared by severalpatterns that may be revealed when the multiple nodes are viewedtogether.

However, related art visualization systems are designed for exploringgeneral networks that are usually one-mode. Related art visualizationtechniques designed for single mode networks may not allow easyidentification of subnetwork patterns. Further, some related artvisualization techniques that may illustrate subnetwork patterns (suchas biclustering) are not as scalable, and are not general enough toaccommodate weighted two-mode networks. Although several could beextended to display two-mode networks, they are not adequate forsubnetwork pattern analysis tasks. This invention tackles the specificproblem of studying patterns in two-mode networks based on interactivevisualization techniques. Many related art visualization systems onlyoffer a data overview, missing more effective visualization of allpatterns.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aspects of the present disclosure may include a method of visualizingrelationship data in a network connecting an entity of a first type withan entity of a second type is provided. The method includes detecting,within the network, a subnetwork pattern representing at least onerelationship satisfying a condition, generating a visualization based onthe detected subnetwork pattern. The visualization includes a firstregion representative of the first type of entity, a second regionrepresentative of the second type of entity, and a linking regionconnecting the first region to the second region and providinginformation about the at least one relationship satisfying thecondition.

Additional aspects of the present disclosure may include anon-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a programfor making a computer execute a method of visualizing relationship datain a network connecting an entity of a first type with an entity of asecond type. The method includes detecting, within the network, asubnetwork pattern representing at least one relationship satisfying acondition, generating a visualization based on the detected subnetworkpattern. The visualization includes a first region representative of thefirst type of entity, a second region representative of the second typeof entity, and a linking region connecting the first region to thesecond region and providing information about the at least onerelationship satisfying the condition.

Aspects of the present disclosure may also include a computer apparatusconfigured to visualize relationship data in a network connecting anentity of a first type with an entity of a second type. The computerapparatus may include a memory storing the relationship data comprisinga plurality of entities of the first type, a plurality of entities ofthe second type, and data representative of a plurality ofrelationships, each relationship connecting an entity of the pluralityof entities of the first type to an entity of the plurality of entitiesof the second type, a processor, and a display device configured todisplay a generated visualization. The processor may execute a processincluding detecting, within the network, a plurality of subnetworkpatterns, each of the plurality of subnetwork patterns representing atleast one relationship satisfying a condition, and generating thevisualization based on the detected plurality of subnetwork patterns.The generated visualization includes a plurality of rows, each rowassociated with one of the detected subnetwork patterns satisfying thecondition, and includes a first region representative of the first typeof entity, a second region representative of the second type of entity,and a linking region connecting the first region to the second regionand providing information about the at least one relationship satisfyingthe condition.

Additional aspects of the present disclosure may also include a computerapparatus configured to visualize relationship data in a networkconnecting an entity of a first type with an entity of a second type.The computer apparatus may include means for storing the relationshipdata comprising a plurality of entities of the first type, a pluralityof entities of the second type, and data representative of a pluralityof relationships, each relationship connecting an entity of theplurality of entities of the first type to an entity of the plurality ofentities of the second type, means for detecting, within the network, aplurality of subnetwork patterns, each of the plurality of subnetworkpatterns representing at least one relationship satisfying a condition,means for generating a visualization based on the detected plurality ofsubnetwork patterns, and means for displaying the generatedvisualization. The visualization includes a plurality of rows, each rowassociated with one of the detected subnetwork patterns satisfying thecondition, and including a first region representative of the first typeof entity, a second region representative of the second type of entity,and a linking region connecting the first region to the second regionand providing information about the at least one relationship satisfyingthe condition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example two-mode network.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a visualization process according toan example implementation of the present application.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface (UI) usable as a visualization inaccordance with example implementations of the present application.

FIG. 4 illustrates an enlarged portion of the UI of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a general construction of a node icon usable inexample implementations of the present application.

FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of another portion of the UI of FIG.3.

FIG. 7 illustrates the UI of FIG. 3 reorganized based on user selection.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart for a process of interacting and updatinga UI in accordance with example implementations of the presentapplication.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a search result visualization processaccording to an example implementation of the present application.

FIG. 10 illustrates a UI usable as a visualization in accordance withanother example implementation of the present application.

FIG. 11 illustrates a UI usable as a visualization in accordance withanother example implementation of the present application.

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrates example implementations of a UI usable asa visualization in accordance with another example implementation of thepresent application.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example computing environment with an examplecomputer device suitable for use in some example implementations of thepresent application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description provides further details of thefigures and example implementations of the present application.Reference numerals and descriptions of redundant elements betweenfigures are omitted for clarity. Terms used throughout the descriptionare provided as examples and are not intended to be limiting. Forexample, the use of the term “automatic” may involve fully automatic orsemi-automatic implementations involving user or operator control overcertain aspects of the implementation, depending on the desiredimplementation of one of ordinary skill in the art practicingimplementations of the present application.

A two-mode network is a special kind of network which consists of twotypes of entities (nodes) and relations (links) between different typesof entities. Two-mode networks may summarize the association between oneentity and another, and they exist in many application scenarios, forexample, connections between employees and teams in an organization.Specific subnetwork patterns may be of interest by analysts. One type ofsubnetwork pattern may be a clique.

A clique is a maximal, complete subgraph in a two-mode network. Completemeans that every node of one type has connections to all the nodes ofanother type in this subgraph; and maximal means that adding extra nodesand links to this subgraph breaks the maximal definition.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example two-mode network 100 formed by a firsttype of entities 105 (A-F) and a second type of entities 110 (1-6). InFIG. 1, subnetwork pattern 115 formed of first type entities 105 (A, B)and second type entities 110 (1, 2) illustrates a clique because it isboth complete and maximal. Subnetwork pattern 115 is complete becauseall of the first type of entities 105 (A, B) are connected to all of thesecond type entities 110 (1, 2). Subnetwork pattern 115 is maximalbecause no other first type entities 105 (C-F) within the network 100 isconnected to all of the second type entities 110 (1, 2) of thesubnetwork pattern 115, and no other second type entities 110 (3-6)within the network 100 is connected to all of the first type entities110 (A, B) of the subnetwork pattern 115.

In FIG. 1, subnetwork pattern 120 formed of first type entities 105 (B,E) and second type entities 110 (4, 5) also illustrates a clique becauseit is also both complete and maximal. Subnetwork pattern 120 is completebecause all of the first type of entities 105 (B, E) are connected toall of the second type entities 110 (4, 5). Subnetwork pattern 120 ismaximal because no other first type entities 105 (A, C, D, F) within thenetwork 100 is connected to all of the second type entities 110 (4, 5)of the subnetwork pattern 120, and no other second type entities 110(1-3, 6) within the network 100 is connected to all of the first typeentities 110 (B, E) of the subnetwork pattern 120.

Cliques, such as those illustrated in FIG. 1, may have real semanticmeanings in different applications, which might be important in socialnetwork analysis. For example, a clique in an employee-team network mayindicate all teams have certain employees in common, which may haveimplications for resource allocation; similarly, in anauthor-publication network, a clique may represent these authors are allon a certain group of publications, indicating a close collaboration.

Example implementation may identify subnetwork patterns from a two-modenetwork and visualizes the results, allowing for interactive explorationof patterns in data. These example implementations may enable users todiscover complex relationships among all the detected patterns in anetwork, such as node overlaps, and may also allow examination ofmeta-data information associated with nodes and links in these patterns.Example implementations may also include a visualization system that mayemphasize the two different types of nodes within a two-mode network byseparating the two different types.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a visualization process 200 accordingto an example implementation of the present application. The illustratedprocess 200 may be performed by a processor (such as processors 1310) ofa device or apparatus (such as computing device 1305 of FIG. 13) toprovide subnetwork pattern detection and visualization. As illustratedin process 200, relationship information is extracted from a pluralityof data entities at 205. The data entities may be of two or moredifferent types. The different types of data entities are notparticularly limited and may include user entity, creator or authorentity, reader entity, content item or document entity, purchase entity,communication entity or any other entity that might be apparent to aperson of ordinary skill in the art. The entities may be received orselected from a database. The type of database is not particularlylimited and may include any type of data records including email data,travel data, phone call data, instant message data, event data, contentdata, purchase data or any other type of data that might be apparent toa person of ordinary skill in the art.

The relationship information between the entities may be extracted byextracting content features from each of the plurality of entities. Theextraction of the content features is not particularly limited and mayinclude applying object recognition techniques (e.g., objectrecognition, facial recognition, character recognition, etc.) to imagesor videos associated with the content item to identify the visualcontent. Additionally, audio recognition techniques (e.g., audio eventdetection, audio characteristic classification, speech recognition,etc.) may be used to detect the audio content associated with thecontent item. Additionally, subject matter recognition algorithms may beused to detect subjects or topics of textual content of the contentitem. The extracted content features may also include other types offeatures about the content item such as location of capture orauthorship (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS) data, etc.) or anyother content features that might be apparent to a person of ordinaryskill in the art.

The relationships data may be extracted from the entities by matchingcontent features associated with entities of one type with correspondingcontent features of entities of another, different type. For example, ifcontent features associated with a content item or document entitiesindicates authorship by a certain person or persons, and contentfeatures associated with a creator or author entities indicates identityinformation by the same person or persons, a relationship may be storedin the relationship data. Other examples of relationships betweenentities of different types may be apparent to a person of ordinaryskill in the art, including user entity-communication entity, userentity-purchase entity, reader entity-communication entity, readerentity-content or document entity, etc.

Once relationship data is extracted from the plurality of entities, atwo-mode network may be constructed at 210 by connecting entities of onetype to entities of a second type. In some example implementations,entities of one type (e.g., a first type) may only be connected directlywith entities of the second, different type and not to other entities ofthe first type. Similarly, entities of the second type may only beconnected directly with entities of the first type and not to otherentities of the second type.

In some example implementations, relationships between individualentities of one type may be connected to individual entities of thesecond type based on predefined data associated with each entity. Forexample, a creator or author entity relationship with a created contentor document entity. In other example implementations, multiple entitiesof one type may be joined together to form the relationship. Forexample, posts in a chat application within a certain time frame may begrouped as a conversation and users who published posts within theconversation may be connected to the entire conversation.

After constructing a two-mode network, which may represent a real-worldsystem, subnetwork patterns can be detected using a variety oftechniques at 215. For example, brute force methods can be used to findsubnetwork patterns such as cliques or faster (e.g., linear) approachessuch as biclustering. Example implementations are not limited to anyparticular subnetwork pattern finding process and may use any techniqueto identify subnetwork patterns of interest that might be apparent to aperson of ordinary skill in the art.

After the subnetwork patterns are identified, a visualization may begenerated at 220. The generated visualization may be displayed on acomputing device or apparatus such as a personal computer, a server, amainframe, or any other computing device that might be apparent to aperson of ordinary skill in the art. Example implementations of thevisualization are discussed in greater detail below with respect toFIGS. 3-7, and 10-12. In some example implementations, the process 200may end once the visualization is generated.

In other example implementations, a determination whether interactioninstructions have been received from a user may optionally be made at225. The user instructions may be received from a user input device suchas a keyboard, pointing device (e.g., a mouse, trackball, touchpad),interactive display (e.g., a touch screen display), or any other userinput device that might be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in theart. In some example implementations, the user instructions may bereceived through a user interface (UI), such as a toolbar or othercontrol elements, integrated into the visualization generated at 220. Inother example implementations, the user instructions may be receivedthrough a separate UI independent of the visualization generated at 220.

If user interaction instructions are received (YES at 225), thevisualization may optionally be regenerated based on the receivedinteraction instructions at 230. Regeneration of the visualization mayinclude reordering portions of the visualization, repositioning portionsof the visualization, removing portions from the visualization, addingportions to the visualization, or any other changes to the visualizationthat might be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. Exampleimplementations of a process of regenerating the visualization arediscussed in greater detail below with respect to FIGS. 2, 8, and 9.

Conversely, if no user interactions are received (NO at 225), theprocess 200 may end.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface (UI) 300 usable as a visualizationin accordance with example implementations of the present application.The UI 300 may be produced using the process 200 discussed above and maybe displayed on a computing device or apparatus such as a personalcomputer, a server, a mainframe, or any other computing device thatmight be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. The UI 300may represent a visualization of a network connecting users of acommunications system (e.g., an instant messaging platform, emailingplatform, electronic posting board, a short message service (SMS)platform or other communication platform) and communications or postswithin the communication system. Other types of visualizations arediscussed in greater detail below with respect to FIGS. 10-12.

In some example implementations, the UI 300 may include four parts. Forreference purposes, each of the four parts has been highlighted with abroken line box in FIG. 3. As illustrated, the UI 300 may include a mainview 305, which may be used to show the results of subnetwork patterndetection (215 of process 200 of FIG. 2). The UI 300 may also include aninformation panel 310 for displaying content features associated withentities displayed in the main view 305 (e.g., the information panel 310may illustrate meta-data associated with entities). Further, the UI 300may include an overview region 315 for showing the topology of an entirenetwork and a toolbar 320 that may be used for manipulating the UI 300(e.g., sending interaction instructions that may be received at 225 ofprocess 200 of FIG. 2).

The main view 305 may include a plurality of rows 325, each row 325representing one of the detected subnetwork patterns. For ease ofillustration only two rows 325 have been labeled in FIG. 3. However,each of the rows illustrated in the main view 305 of the UI 300 of FIG.3 may be representative of one of the detected subnetwork patterns evenif a reference numeral is not provided. Within each row 325 of the mainview 305, three regions 330, 335,340 may be provided. The left region330 may be associated with a first type of entity represented by nodeicons 380. The right region 335 may be associated with a second type ofentity represented by node icons 385. Depending on the type of entityrepresented by each node icon 380, 385, the node icon 380, 385 may beshown as an image, or a text summary. For example, a message orcommunication analysis implementation is illustrated in FIG. 3. Asillustrated, entities of the first type in the left region 330 are usersand node icons 380 are rendered as images of their profiles. Further,the entities of the second type in the right region 335 areconversations (e.g., collections of communications responsive to eachother) in which the users have participated and node icons 385 may beare rendered with the key terms of the contents of the underlyingconversations. The node icons 380, 385 are discussed in greater detailbelow with respect to general node icon 500 of FIG. 5.

The left region 330 is connected to right region 335 by a central orlinking region 340, which may provide information about the subnetworkpattern associated with each row 325. For example a number of entitiesof the first type in the right region 335 and a number of entities ofthe second type in left region 385 may be displayed in the linkingregion 340. Additionally, in some implementations more entities of thefirst type 380 or the second type 385 may be associated with asubnetwork pattern than can be displayed in the left and right regions330, 335 of a row 325. In such implementations, the linking region 340may provide controls to scroll or toggle the left and right regions 330,335 of the row 325 to display additional entities of the first type 380or the second type 385. The display of each row is discussed in greaterdetail below with respect to FIG. 4, which illustrates an enlarged viewof region IV of FIG. 3.

Additionally, in FIG. 3 the information panel 310 includes contentinformation region 345 providing information about the contentassociated with subnetwork patterns associated with the rows 325illustrated in the main view 305. The information panel 310 may berelated to a selected entity (e.g., the second type of entity associatedwith node icon 385 a). The content information region 345 may beillustrated by a cluster of words representative of content detected asbeing associated with the conversation associated with node icon 385 a(e.g., an entity of the second type). In some implementations, the sizeof the words in the content information region 345 may be representativeof the frequency of occurrence of the content within the conversations(e.g., the entity of the second type).

The information panel 310 may also include a sample display section 350that displays communications associated with the selected conversationassociated with node icon 385 a (e.g., an entity of the second type). Asillustrated, the selected conversation associated with node icon 385 a(e.g., an entity of the second type) may include five messages betweenthree users.

Further, in FIG. 3 the overview region 315 provides global node map 390illustrating the topology of an entire network. In some exampleimplementations, the global node map 390 may allow navigation of theentire network. For example, the global node map 390 may be manipulated(e.g., rotated, resized, or moved) and the manipulation of the globalnode map 390 may cause changes in the main view 305. For example,rotating the global node map 390 may change the relationships shown inthe main view 305 or may change the number of rows shown. Othermanipulations may be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

The main view 305 of the UI 300 may also provide some basicinteractivities for exploring the data using the information panel 310and the overview region 315. For example, hovering over a link or anentity 380, 385 in the main view 305 may reveal corresponding meta-datain the information panel 310, as well as nodes and links in the overviewregion 315. For example, as illustrated, the conversation (entity 385 a)is hovered over and the information panel 310 shows tag clouds of theconversation key terms in the content information region 345 and the rawconversations in the sample display section 350.

The UI 300 may also enable a range of other interactions through thetoolbar 320, for example, filtering the patterns based on size,filtering nodes (based on selection) and links (based on weight), andgrouping and reordering patterns.

The toolbar 320 may provide several interface controls for a user toperform data detected subnetwork patterns represented by the rows 325 inthe main view 305. For example, numeric fields 355 may be used tospecify a minimum number of entities of the first and second type forthe detected subnetwork patterns (e.g., at least 3 entities of the firsttype and at least 3 entities of the second type). Further, a text window360 may be used to specify keywords or terms to be used to filterentities or relationships to be analyzed for subnetwork patterndetection and display in the main view 305. For example, a user mayenter keywords of interests and the keywords of interest may be used toidentify conversations or users for display in the main view 305.

Control bar 365 may be used to specify minimum probabilities ofassociation between the keywords and the detected entities to be used inthe subnetwork pattern detection. For example, only conversationsincluding communications with topical probabilities above a thresholdset by the control bar 365 may be displayed. Control bar 370 may be usedto specify a minimum grouping parameter to be used to generate the mainview 305 and control features 375 may be used to specify how thesubnetwork patterns associated with the rows 325 of the main view 305should be displayed. For example, the rows 325 may be order based on aweighted average of content or topical probabilities or any otherparameter that might be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in theart. Based on user interaction with the toolbar 320, the UI 300 may beupdated or modified using a process such as process 800 illustrated inFIG. 9.

FIG. 4 illustrates an enlarged portion IV of the main view 305 of the UI300 of FIG. 3. As illustrated, a row 325 of the main view 305 of the UI300 illustrated in FIG. 3 above has been enlarged to illustrate featuresthereof. The row 325 may be representative of a subnetwork patterndetected in a network of connected entities. For example, in FIGS. 3 and4, a message or communication analysis implementation is illustrated.The row 325 illustrated in FIG. 4 may be representative of the otherrows 325 illustrated in the main view 305 of the UI 300 of FIG. 3 andother rows 325 illustrated in FIG. 3 may have similar features, even ifnot specifically identified in FIG. 3.

As discussed above, the row 325 includes a plurality of node icons 380,385 and the row 325 may be divided into three regions 330, 335, 340(highlighted with broken line boxes in FIG. 4). The left region 330 maybe associated with a first type of entity represented by node icons 380.In the example implementation of FIGS. 3 and 4, the entities of thefirst type in the left region 330 may be users of a message orcommunication system and node icons 380 may include rendered images 420from the user's profiles (e.g., a user avatar or profile image).Additionally, the right region 335 may be associated with a second typeof entity represented by node icons 385. In the example implementationof FIGS. 3 and 4, the entities of the second type in the right region335 may be conversations (e.g., collections of communications responsiveto each other) in which the users (entities of the first type) haveparticipated. The node icons 385 associated with the entities of thesecond type may be rendered with a listing 425 of the key termsextracted from the contents of the underlying conversations. Additionalfeatures of example implementations of the node icons 380, 385 arediscussed in greater detail below with respect to FIG. 5.

As illustrated, the left region 330 of the row 325 may be connected toright region 335 by the central or linking region 340. The central orlinking region 340 may provide information about the subnetwork patternassociated with each row 325. For example, a subnetwork pattern sizeindicator 405 may be provided to identify size of the subnetwork patternidentified. The subnetwork pattern size indicator 405 (highlighted witha broken oval) may indicate the number of entities of the first type inthe right region 335 and a number of entities of the second type in leftregion 335. In the example implementation illustrated in FIG. 4, thesubnetwork pattern size indicator 405 value of “3×4” may indicate thatsubnetwork pattern associated with the illustrated row 325 includes 3entities of the first type in the left region 330 and 4 entities of thesecond type in the right region 335.

Additionally, in some implementations more entities of the first type380 or the second type 385 may be associated with a subnetwork patternthan can be displayed in the left and right regions 330, 335 of the row325. In such implementations, the linking region 340 may provide userinterface (UI) controls 410, 415 (highlighted with broken ovals)associated with the left region 330 and right regions 335 respectively.Each UI control 410, 415 may allow scrolling or toggling of the left andright regions 330, 335 respectively, to display additional entities ofthe first type 380 or the second type 385 that cannot be displayed. EachUI control 410, 415 may also have page indicators 430, 435. The pageindicator 430 may indicate the current page of entities 380 beingdisplayed in the left region 330. Additionally, in some exampleimplementations, the page indicator 430 may also indicate the totalnumber of pages of entities 380 available. In the example implementationillustrated in FIG. 4, the page indicator 430 value of “1/1” mayindicate that currently page number “1” of a total of one available pageis displayed in the left region 330.

Similarly, the page indicator 435 may indicate the current page ofentities 385 being displayed in the right region 335. Additionally, insome example implementations, the page indicator 435 may also indicatethe total number of pages of entities 385 available. In the exampleimplementation illustrated in FIG. 4, the page indicator 435 value of“1/1” may indicate that currently page number “1” of a total of oneavailable page is displayed in the right region 335.

FIG. 5 illustrates a general construction of a node icon 500 usable inexample implementations of the present application. In some exampleimplementations, the illustrated node icon 500 may be used as a nodeicon 380, 385 in a main view 305 of the UI 300 to represent entities offirst or second types in a network of entities. The node icon 500includes a main area 505 that may include information descriptive orindicative of the entity with which the node icon 500 is associated. Forexample, as discussed above, the node icon 380 may include renderedimages 420 (in FIG. 4) from the user's profiles (e.g., a user avatar orprofile image). The rendered images 420 may be displayed in the mainarea 505. As another example described above, the node icon 385 mayinclude a listing 425 (in FIG. 4) of the key terms extracted from thecontents of the underlying conversations. Again, the listing 425 of keyterms may be displayed in the main area 505. Other information thatmight be descriptive or indicative of the entity with which the nodeicon 500 is associated may be displayed in the main area 505 may beapparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art.

The node icon 500 may include a horizontal bar 510 that indicates thenumbers of subnetwork patterns the entity associated with the node iconis a part of across all subnetwork patterns identified. Thus, the longerthe horizontal bar 510 is, the more patterns the entity associated withthe node icon belong. In some example implementations, the horizontalbar 510 might help an analyst identify key entities in the network asthey appear in many different patterns.

The node icon 500 may also include a region 515 having one or morevertically arranged horizontal lines 517 a-517 g. Each of the horizontallines 517 a-517 g may be representative of links (e.g., relationships)connecting the entity associated with the node icon 500 to otherentities in the network. In some example implementations, the links(e.g., relationships) may have weights or weighting factors, which maycorrespond to the vertical (e.g., y-position) of the horizontal lines517 a-517 g. In some example implementations, this configuration mayallow an analyst to be able to see the distribution of link (e.g.,relationship) weights associated with each entity.

Additionally, as discussed below with respect to FIG. 7, an exampleimplementation of the UI 300 may allow an analyst to select or “pin” anentity to form a separate column. In such implementations, the node icon500 may also include a second horizontal bar 520, representing theproportion of patterns to which the entity associated with the node iconbelongs, among all the “selected” patterns (e.g., patterns containingthe “pinned” entity). The length of the second horizontal bar 520 mayindicate how many selected patterns contain a specific entity associatedwith the node icon 500. In some example implementations, thisconfiguration may help an analyst identify a next most relevant entitywith respect to the pinned entities.

In some example implementations, “pinning” or selecting an entity mayalso cause subnetwork patterns not associated (e.g., negativelyassociated) with the entity to be repositioned or highlighted. Forexample, selection of an entity 385 may cause rows 325 not containingthe entity to be moved or highlighted to allow pinning to be used toexclude, rather than include entities. Other aspects of “pinning”operations using example implementations of the UI 300 are discussed ingreater detail below with respect to FIG. 7.

FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of the overview region 315 of the UI300 of FIG. 3. As illustrated, the overview region 315 provides a globalnode map 390. The global node map is formed by a plurality of nodes 605of a first type (represented with black dots), a plurality of nodes 610of a second type (represented by white dots), and links 615 connectingthe nodes 605 of the first type to the nodes 610 of the second type.Each of the nodes 605 of the first type may correspond to an entity ofthe first type represented by node icons 380 in FIGS. 3 and 4 above.Further, each of the nodes 610 of the second type may correspond to anentity of the second type represented by node icons 385 in FIGS. 3 and 4above. Additionally, each of the links 615 may represent a relationshipbetween the entities of the first type and the entities of the secondtype.

In FIG. 6, some of nodes 605 of the first type (e.g., black dots) havebeen labeled. However, the unlabeled nodes (e.g., black dots) may besubstantially similar to the labeled nodes 605 and may have the samefeatures thereof. Additionally, some of nodes 610 of the first type(e.g., white dots) have been labeled. However, the unlabeled nodes(e.g., white dots) may be substantially similar to the labeled nodes 610and may have the same features thereof. Further, though only some of thelinks 615 may be labeled in FIG. 6, unlabeled links may be substantiallysimilar to, and may have the same features of, labeled links 615.

By manipulating the nodes 605, 610 and the links 615 of the global nodemap 390, the main view 305 of FIG. 3 may be changed. For example, byselecting one of nodes 605 a, the subnetwork pattern 620 including thatnode 605 a may be highlighted or displayed. Other manipulations andeffects may be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 7 illustrates the main view 305 of the UI 300 of FIG. 3 reorganizedbased on user selection of an entity. The UI 300 may be produced usingthe process 200 discussed above and may be displayed on a computingdevice or apparatus such as a personal computer, a server, a mainframe,or any other computing device that might be apparent to a person ofordinary skill in the art. The UI 300 may represent a visualization of anetwork connecting users of a communications system (e.g., an instantmessaging platform, emailing platform, electronic posting board, a shortmessage service (SMS) platform or other communication platform) andcommunications or posts within the communication system. Other types ofvisualizations are discussed in greater detail below with respect toFIGS. 10-12.

Again, the main view 305 may include a plurality of rows 325, each row325 representing one of the detected subnetwork patterns. For ease ofillustration only two rows 325 have been labeled in FIG. 7. However,each of the rows illustrated in the main view 305 of the UI 300 of FIG.7 may be representative of one of the detected subnetwork patterns evenif a reference numeral is not provided. Within each row 325 of the mainview 305, three regions 330, 335, 340 may be provided. The left region330 may be associated with the first type of entity represented by nodeicons 380. The right region 335 may be associated with a second type ofentity represented by node icons 385.

In FIG. 7, a message or communication analysis implementation isillustrated. As illustrated, entities of the first type in the leftregion 330 are users and the entities of the second type in the rightregion 335 are conversations (e.g., collections of communicationsresponsive to each other) in which the users have participated.

Based on user input, one of entities of the first type (380 a, “JENN”)has been selected or “pinned” for deeper exploration. After the entity380 a has been pinned, the main view has been rearranged to form aseparate column for entity 380 a. This may allow clearer visualizationto see which subnetwork patterns this entity 380 a belongs to. When theentity 380 a is pinned, the other unpinned entities 380 may be arereordered based on their relevancy to the pinned entity 380 a in eachrow. This may bring more relevant entities to the center (represented bybroken rectangle 710) region so that an analyst can more easily accessthem. After pinning entity 380 a, the second horizontal bar 520 of theentities 380, 380 a may be dynamically shown under each node icon,representing the proportion of patterns to which that entity 380, 380 abelongs, among all the “selected” patterns. Again, selected patternsmean the patterns containing the pinned entity 380 a. So the length ofthe second horizontal bar 520 indicates how many selected patternscontain a specific entity 380. This may help an analyst to identify anext most relevant entity 380 with respect to the pinned entity 380 a.For example, in FIG. 7, pinning in the UI 300 may allow recognition thatthe user who chats most frequently with the pinned entity 380 a(appearing in the same patterns) is the entity 380 with the profileimage of trees (highlighted with broken circles 715) as it has thelongest second horizontal bars 520 among the unpinned entities 380.

In some example implementations, “pinning” or selecting an entity mayalso cause subnetwork patterns not associated (e.g., negativelyassociated) with the entity to be repositioned or highlighted. Forexample, selection of an entity 385 may cause rows 325 not containingthe entity to be moved or highlighted to allow pinning to be used toexclude, rather than include entities.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart 800 for a process of interacting andupdating the UI 300 in accordance with example implementation of thepresent application. The illustrated process 800 may be performed by aprocessor (such as processors 1310) of a device or apparatus (such ascomputing device 1305 of FIG. 13) to provide subnetwork patterndetection and visualization. In the process 800, a user first definesthe scope of the exploration by selecting a range of data at 805. Insome example implementations, the range of data for analysis may beselected using a User Interface or uploading a collection of data to asystem. For example, the overview region 315 may be used to define datafor analysis. Other UI or other data manipulation mechanism may be usedas may be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.Alternatively, as discussed in greater detail below, the data selectedfor analysis may be search results received from a search engine.

After the range of data for analysis has been defined, subnetworkpattern finding parameters (such as minimum pattern size, probabilitythreshold values, etc.) are configured based on the data selected and,optionally, default visualization parameters to generate a visualizationat 810. In some example implementations, the subnetwork findingparameters may be user defined using a UI, such as the toolbar 320 of UI300, by setting the size (using numeric fields 355) and link weightthreshold (using control bar 365), which governs the pattern findingalgorithm and what kind of patterns should be presented. In otherexample implementations, the initial subnetwork finding parameters maybe administrator defined, or may be automatically generated usingmachine learning, or other automated process.

Once the initial subnetwork pattern finding parameters are configured, auser can refine visualization parameters at 815 using the grouping,sorting, and filtering functions. Based on user input at 815, thesubnetwork finding parameters may be reconfigured and an updatedvisualization may be generated at 810. In some example implementations,the refining of the visualization parameters at 815 may also triggerselection of more, less, or different data for analysis at 805.

In addition to refining the visualization parameters, a user may alsoperform dynamic exploration of the results at 820 using “pinning”,hovering or other data exploration functions. Based on user input at820, the subnetwork finding parameters may be reconfigured and anupdated visualization may be generated at 810. In some exampleimplementations, the refining of the dynamic exploration of the resultsat 820 may also trigger selection of more, less, or different data foranalysis at 805.

The refining of the visualization parameters at 815 and the dynamicexploration at 820 may be performed sequentially, or simultaneously. Thedifference between these two steps is that dynamic exploration at 820does not trigger rearrangement of patterns (e.g., repositioning ofrepositioning of rows 325 in the UI 300), whereas visualizationrefinement at 815 may trigger rearrangement of patterns. In other words,dynamic exploration at 820 may be an operation on the entity andrelationship level versus refinement of the visualization parameters at815 may be an operation at the pattern level.

If no user input is received at either 815 or 820, the process 800 mayend.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a search result visualization process900 according to an example implementation of the present application.The illustrated process 900 may be performed by a processor (such asprocessors 1310) of a device or apparatus (such as computing device 1305of FIG. 13) to provide search result detection and visualization. Someaspects of the process 900 may be similar to aspects of the process 200discussed above. Thus, similar description may be provided. Asillustrated, in process 900 relationship information is extracted from aplurality of data entities at 905. The data entities may be of two ormore different types. The different types of data entities are notparticularly limited and may include user entity, creator or authorentity, reader entity, content item or document entity, purchase entity,communication entity or any other entity that might be apparent to aperson of ordinary skill in the art. The entities may be received orselected from a database. The type of database is not particularlylimited and may include any type of data records including email data,travel data, phone call data, instant message data, event data, contentdata, purchase data or any other type of data that might be apparent toa person of ordinary skill in the art.

The relationship information between the entities may be extracted byextracting content features from each of the plurality of entities. Theextraction of the content features is not particularly limited and mayinclude applying object recognition techniques (e.g., objectrecognition, facial recognition, character recognition, etc.) to imagesor videos associated with the content item to identify the visualcontent. Additionally, audio recognition techniques (e.g., audio eventdetection, audio characteristic classification, speech recognition,etc.) may be used to detect the audio content associated with thecontent item. Additionally, subject matter recognition algorithms may beused to detect subjects or topics of textual content of the contentitem. The extracted content features may also include other types offeatures about the content item such as location of capture orauthorship (e.g., GPS data, etc.) or any other content features thatmight be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

The relationship data may be extracted from the entities by matchingcontent features associated with entities of one type with correspondingcontent features of entities of another, different type. For example, ifcontent features associated with a content item or document entitiesindicates authorship by a certain person or persons, and contentfeatures associated with a creator or author entities indicates identityinformation by the same person or persons, a relationship may be storedin the relationship data. Other examples relationships between entitiesof different types may be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in theart, including user entity-communication entity, user entity-purchaseentity, reader entity-communication entity, reader entity-content ordocument entity, etc.

Once relationship data is extracted from the plurality of entities, atwo-mode network may be constructed at 910 by connecting entities of onetype to entities of a second type. In some example implementations,entities of one type (e.g., a first type) may only be connected directlywith entities of the second, different type and not to other entities ofthe first type. Similarly, entities of the second type may only beconnected directly with entities of the first type and not to otherentities of the second type.

In some example implementations, relationships between individualentities of one type may be connected to individual entities of thesecond type based on predefined data, associated with each entity. Forexample, a creator or author entity relationship with a created contentor document entity. In other example implementations, multiple entitiesof one type may be joined together to form the relationship. Forexample, posts in a chat application within a certain time frame may begrouped as a conversation and users who published posts within theconversation may be connected to the entire conversation.

After constructing a two-mode network, which may represents a real-worldsystem, a search content feature to be used as part of a search requestmay be received at 915. In some example implementations, the searchcontent feature may be received from a user entry into a search field ofa UI. For example, a user may type one or more keywords into a textentry field of a search engine.

In other example implementations, the search content feature may bereceived by extracting the searched content feature from a content item(e.g., a text document such as an email, text message, chat message,paper, etc.; a media document, such an photo, video clip, audiorecording; or any other content item that might be apparent to a personof ordinary skill in the art). The searched content feature may beextracted from the content item by applying object recognitiontechniques (e.g., object recognition, facial recognition, characterrecognition, etc.) to images or videos associated with the content itemto identify the visual content. Additionally, audio recognitiontechniques (e.g., audio event detection, audio characteristicclassification, speech recognition, etc.) may be used to detect theaudio content associated with the content item. Additionally, subjectmatter recognition algorithms may be used to detect subjects or topicsof textual content of the content item. The extracted search contentfeature may also include other types of features about the content itemsuch as location of capture or authorship (e.g., GPS data, etc.) or anyother content features that might be apparent to a person of ordinaryskill in the art.

After the searched content feature is received, data entities in thetwo-mode network associated with content features analogous to thesearched content feature may be identified at 920. In some exampleimplementations, the data entities identified at 920 may be associatedwith content features that are identical or substantially identical tothe searched content feature. For example, if the searched contentfeature is a name such as “John Smith”, entities associated with contentfeatures such as “John Smith”, “John XXX”, or “XXX Smith” (with XXXrepresenting wildcard characters) may be identified at 920.

In other example implementations, the data entities identified at 920may also be associated with content features that are related to thereceived search content feature. For example, if the searched contentfeature is a genus (such as digital cameras), entities associated withcontent features representative of species (such as specific digitalcamera brands or models) may be identified at 920. Similarly, if thesearched content feature is a species (such as a digital camera brand ormodel), entities associated with content features representative of thegenus (such as digital cameras) may be identified at 920. Otherrelationships between the searched content feature and the contentfeatures used to identify entities may be apparent to a person ofordinary skill in the art.

After data entities are identified, subnetwork patterns containing theidentified data entities may be detected at 925 using a variety oftechniques. For example, brute force methods can be used to findsubnetwork patterns such as cliques or faster (e.g., linear) approachessuch as biclustering. Example implementations are not limited to anyparticular subnetwork pattern finding process and may use any techniqueto identify subnetwork patterns of interest that might be apparent to aperson of ordinary skill in the art.

After the subnetwork patterns are identified, a visualization may begenerated at 930. The generated visualization may be displayed on acomputing device or apparatus such as a personal computer, a server, amainframe, or any other computing device that might be apparent to aperson of ordinary skill in the art. Example implementations of thevisualization are discussed in greater detail below with respect toFIGS. 10-12. In some example implementations, the process 900 may endonce the visualization is generated.

In other example implementations, a determination whether interactioninstructions have been received from a user may optionally be made at935. The user instructions may be received from a user input device suchas a keyboard, pointing device (e.g., a mouse, trackball, touchpad),interactive display (e.g., a touch screen display), or any other userinput device that might be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in theart. In some example implementations, the user instructions may bereceived through a user interface (UI), such as a toolbar or othercontrol elements, integrated into the visualization generated at 930. Inother example implementations, the user instructions may be receivedthrough a separate UI independent of the visualization generated at 930.

If user interaction instructions are received (YES at 935), thevisualization may optionally be regenerated based on the receivedinteraction instructions at 940. Regeneration of the visualization mayinclude reordering portions of the visualization, repositioning portionsof the visualization, removing portions from the visualization, addingportions to the visualization, or any other changes to the visualizationthat might be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. Exampleimplementations of a process of regenerating the visualization arediscussed in greater detail above with respect to FIG. 8.

Conversely, if no user interactions are received (NO at 940), theprocess 900 may end.

In the process 900 illustrated in FIG. 9, a two-mode network isconstructed at 910, the content feature to be searched is received at915, and the subnetwork pattern is detected at 925. However, exampleimplementations of the present application are not limited to the orderof sub-processes illustrated in FIG. 9. For example, in other exampleimplementations, a content feature to be searched may be received first,a two-mode network constructed based on items retrieved based on thereceived content feature, and then subnetwork patterns detected in thecreated network. Other arrangement of the sub-processes may be apparentto a person of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 10 illustrates a user interface (UI) 1000 usable as a visualizationin accordance with another example implementation of the presentapplication. The UI 1000 may be produced using the process 900 discussedabove and may be displayed on a computing device or apparatus such as apersonal computer, a server, a mainframe, or any other computing devicethat might be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. The UI1000 may represent a visualization for exploring search results ofdocuments in a document corpus. For example, based on the search termsthat a user inputs, the UI 1000 may present a list of authors & documententity sets ordered by relevancy.

The entity sets may have been constructed based on the two-mode networkof authors and documents (such as publications, reports, etc.) andfurther extracted based on a user's search. The UI 1000 may allow a userto explore the results to discover further findings. For example, usermay be able to identify relevant key documents/authors by browsing theirconnections because it broadens the scope, so that the user may refinehis/her search more effectively. Other types of visualizations arediscussed in greater detail above with respect to FIGS. 3-7 and belowwith respect to FIGS. 11 and 12.

In some example implementations, the UI 1000 may be a plurality of rows1025, each row 1025 representing one of the detected subnetworkpatterns. For ease of illustration only two rows 1025 have been labeledin FIG. 10. However, each of the rows illustrated in the UI 1000 of FIG.10 may be representative of one of the detected subnetwork patterns evenif a reference numeral is not provided. Within each row 1025 of the UI1000, three regions 1030, 1035, 1040 may be provided. The left region1030 may be associated with a first type of entity represented by nodeicons 1080. The right region 1035 may be associated with a second typeof entity represented by node icons 1085. Depending on the type ofentity represented by each node icon 1080, 1085, the node icon 1080,1085 may be shown as an image, or a text summary. For example, adocument corpus search result analysis implementation is illustrated inFIG. 10. As illustrated, entities of the first type in the left region1030 are people (e.g., authors, content creators, etc.) and node icons1080 are rendered as images of their profiles or characters associatedwith the people (e.g., author initials, content creator initials, etc.).Further, the entities of the second type in the right region 1035 aredocuments (e.g., papers, articles, photos, or other content items) andnode icons 1085 are rendered with a thumbnail of the document or aportion of the document (e.g., a first page, a selected page, etc.). Thenode icons 1080, 1085 may also include additional features as discussedin greater detail above with respect to general node icon 500 of FIG. 5.

The left region 1030 is connected to right region 1035 by a central orlinking region 1040. In the example implementation of FIG. 10, asimplified linking region is illustrated. However, in other exampleimplementations, the linking region 1040 may provide information aboutthe subnetwork pattern associated with each row 1025 as discussed ingreater detail below. Additionally, though not illustrated in FIG. 10,other example implementations of the UI 1000 may also provide aninformation panel, an overview, and a toolbar, similar to theinformation panel 310, overview region 315, and toolbar 320 of the UI300 illustrated in FIG. 3 and discussed above.

FIG. 11 illustrates another user interface (UI) 1100 usable as avisualization in accordance with another example implementation of thepresent application. The UI 1100 may be produced using the process 900discussed above and may be displayed on a computing device or apparatussuch as a personal computer, a server, a mainframe, or any othercomputing device that might be apparent to a person of ordinary skill inthe art. Similar to UI 1000 of FIG. 10, the UI 1100 may represent avisualization for exploring search results of documents in a documentcorpus. For example, based on the search terms that a user inputs, theUI 1100 may present a list of authors and document entity sets orderedby relevancy.

The entity sets may have been constructed based on the two-mode networkof authors and documents (such as publications, reports, etc.) andfurther extracted based on a user's search. The UI 1100 may allow a userto explore the results to discover further findings. For example, usermay be able to identify relevant key documents/authors by browsing theirconnections because it broadens the scope, so that the user may refinehis/her search more effectively. Other types of visualizations arediscussed above with respect to FIGS. 3-7 and 10 and below with respectto FIGS. 12A and 12B.

In some example implementations, the UI 1100 may provide a plurality ofrows 1125, each row 1125 representing one of the detected subnetworkpatterns. For ease of illustration, only two rows 1125 have been labeledin FIG. 11. However, each of the rows illustrated in the UI 1100 of FIG.11 may be representative of one of the detected subnetwork patterns evenif a reference numeral is not provided. Within each row 1125 of the UI1100, three regions 1130, 1135, 1140 may be provided. The left region1130 may be associated with a first type of entity represented by nodeicons 1180. The right region 1135 may be associated with a second typeof entity represented by node icons 1185. Depending on the type ofentity represented by each node icon 1180, 1185, the node icon 1180,1185 may be shown as an image, or a text summary. For example, adocument corpus search result analysis implementation is illustrated inFIG. 11. As illustrated, entities of the first type in the left region1130 are people (e.g., authors, content creators, etc.) and node icons1180 are rendered as images of their profiles or characters associatedwith the people (e.g., author initials, content creator initials, etc.).Further, the entities of the second type in the right region 1135 aredocuments (e.g., papers, articles, photos, or other content items) andnode icons 1185 are rendered with a thumbnail of the document or aportion of the document (e.g., a first page, a selected page, etc.). Thenode icons 1180, 1185 may also include additional features as discussedin greater detail above with respect to general node icon 500 of FIG. 5.

Additionally, in the UI 1100 of FIG. 11, a “pinning” operation, similarto the operation discussed in FIG. 7, has been performed on both anentity of the first type and an entity of the second type. Specifically,based on user input, one of entities of the first type (1180 a) and oneof the entities of the second type (1185 b) has been selected or“pinned” for deeper exploration. After the entities 1180 a and 1185 bhave been pinned, the UI 1100 has been arranged to form separate columnsfor entity 1180 a and 1185 b. This may allow clearer visualization tosee which subnetwork patterns the entities 1180 a and 1185 b belongs to.When the entity 1180 a is pinned, the other unpinned entities 1180 maybe ordered based on their relevancy to the pinned entity 1180 a in eachrow. Similarly, when the entity 1185 b is pinned, the other unpinnedentities 1185 may be ordered based on their relevancy to the pinnedentity 1185 b in each row. This may bring more relevant entities to thecenter (represented by broken rectangles 1110, 1115) region 1140 so thatan analyst can more easily access them. After pinning entity 1180 a andentity 1185 b, the second horizontal bar 520 of the entities 1180, 1180a, 1185, 1185 b may be dynamically shown under each node icon,representing the proportion of patterns to which that entity 1180, 1180a, 1185, 1185 b belongs, among all the “selected” patterns. Again,selected patterns mean the patterns containing at least one of thepinned entities 1180 a, 1185 b. So the length of the second horizontalbar 520 indicates how many selected patterns contain a specific entity1180, 1185. This may help an analyst to identify a next most relevantentity 1180, 1185 with respect to the pinned entities 1180 a, 1185.

The left region 1130 is connected to right region 1135 by a central orlinking region 1140. The central or linking region 1140 may provideinformation about the subnetwork pattern associated with each row 1125.For example, a subnetwork pattern size indicator 1187 may be provided toidentify size of the subnetwork pattern identified. The subnetworkpattern size indicator 1187 (highlighted with a broken oval) mayindicate the number of entities of the first type in the right region1130 and a number of entities of the second type in left region 1135. Inthe example implementation illustrated in FIG. 11, the subnetworkpattern size indicator 1187 value of “10×10” may indicate thatsubnetwork pattern associated with the illustrated row 1125 includes 10entities of the first type in the left region 1130 and 10 entities ofthe second type in the right region 1135.

Additionally, in some implementations more entities of the first type1180 a, 1180 or the second type 1185 b, 1185 may be associated with asubnetwork pattern than can be displayed in the left and right regions1130, 1135 of the row 1125. In such implementations, the linking region1140 may provide user interface (UI) controls 1189, 1191 (highlightedwith broken ovals) associated with the left region 1130 and rightregions 1135 respectively. Each UI control 1189, 1191 may allowscrolling or toggling of the left and right regions 1130, 1135respectively, to display additional entities of the first type 1180 a,1180 or the second type 1185 b, 1185 that cannot be displayed. Each UIcontrols 1189, 1191 may also have page indicators 1195, 1197. The pageindicator 1195 may indicate the current page of entities 1180 a, 1180being displayed in the left region 1130. Additionally, in some exampleimplementations, the page indicator 1195 may also indicate the totalnumber of pages of entities 1180 a, 1180 available. In the exampleimplementation illustrated in FIG. 11, the page indicator 1195 value of“1/2” may indicate that currently page number “1” of a total of twoavailable pages is displayed in the left region 1130.

Similarly, the page indicator 1197 may indicate the current page ofentities 1185 b, 1185 being displayed in the right region 1135.Additionally, in some example implementations, the page indicator 1197may also indicate the total number of pages of entities 1185 b, 1185available. In the example implementation illustrated in FIG. 11, thepage indicator 1197 value of “1/2” may indicate that currently pagenumber “1” of a total of two available pages is displayed in the rightregion 1135.

Further, in some example implementations the central or linking region1140 may also provide information 1193 about the subnetwork patternassociated with each row 1125. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 11,the information 1193 may include keywords associated with the contentfeatures linking the entities 1180 a, 1180 in the left region 1130 tothe entities 1185 b, 1185 in the right region 1135. Additionally, thoughnot illustrated in FIG. 11, other example implementations of the UI 1100may also provide an information panel, an overview, and a toolbar,similar to the information panel 310, overview region 315, and toolbar320 of the UI 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 and discussed above.

FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate example implementations of a UI 1200 usableas a visualization in accordance with another example implementation ofthe present application. FIG. 12A illustrates the UI 1200 without anyentities 1280, 1285 selected or pinned.

The UI 1200 may be produced using the process 900 discussed above andmay be displayed on a computing device or apparatus such as a personalcomputer, a server, a mainframe, or any other computing device thatmight be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. The UI 1200may represent a visualization for exploring search results of purchasesin an online commerce platform. For example, based on the search termsthat a user inputs, the UI 1200 may present a list of customers andpurchased item entity sets ordered by relevancy.

The entity sets may have been constructed based on the two-mode networkof customers and purchased items (such as movies, books, TV shows, etc.)and further extracted based on a user's search. The UI 1200 may allow auser to explore the results to discover further findings. For example,user may be able to identify relevant key purchased items/purchasers bybrowsing their connections because it broadens the scope, so that theuser may refine his/her search more effectively. Other types ofvisualizations are discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3-7, 10 and 11.

In some example implementations, the UI 1200 may provide a plurality ofrows 1225, each row 1225 representing one of the detected subnetworkpatterns. For ease of illustration, only two rows 1225 have been labeledin FIG. 12A. However, each of the rows illustrated in the UI 1200 ofFIG. 12A may be representative of one of the detected subnetworkpatterns even if a reference numeral is not provided. Within each row1225 of the UI 1200, three regions 1230, 1235, 1240 may be provided. Theleft region 1230 may be associated with a first type of entityrepresented by node icons 1280. The right region 1235 may be associatedwith a second type of entity represented by node icons 1285. Dependingon the type of entity represented by each node icon 1280, 1285, the nodeicon 1280, 1285 may be shown as an image, or a text summary. Forexample, an online commerce platform purchase search result analysisimplementation is illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B. As illustrated,entities of the first type in the left region 1230 are people (e.g.,purchasers, customer, etc.) and node icons 1280 are rendered as imagesof their profiles or characters associated with the people (e.g.,purchasers, customer, etc.). Further, the entities of the second type inthe right region 1235 are purchases (e.g., books, movies, TV shows,etc.) and node icons 1285 are rendered with a thumbnail representativeof a purchase (e.g., a cover, a poster, representative character, etc.).The node icons 1280, 1285 may also include additional features asdiscussed in greater detail above with respect to general node icon 500of FIG. 5.

Additionally in FIG. 12B, the UI 1200 illustrates a “pinning” operation,similar to the operation discussed in FIG. 7 performed on both an entityof the first type and an entity of the second type. Specifically, basedon user input, one of entities of the first type (1280 a) and one of theentities of the second type (1285 b) has been selected or “pinned” fordeeper exploration. After the entities 1280 a and 1285 b have beenpinned, the UI 1200 has been arranged to form separate columns forentity 1280 a and 1285 b. This may allow clearer visualization to seewhich subnetwork patterns the entities 1280 a and 1285 b belongs to.When the entity 1280 a is pinned, the other unpinned entities 1280 maybe ordered based on their relevancy to the pinned entity 1280 a in eachrow. Similarly, when the entity 1285 b is pinned, the other unpinnedentities 1285 may be ordered based on their relevancy to the pinnedentity 1285 b in each row. This may bring more relevant entities to thecenter (represented by broken rectangles 1210, 1215) region 1240 so thatan analyst can more easily access them. After pinning entity 1280 a andentity 1285 b, the second horizontal bar 520 of the entities 1280, 1280a, 1285, 1285 b may be dynamically shown under each node icon,representing the proportion of patterns to which that entity 1280, 1280a, 1285, 1285 b belongs, among all the “selected” patterns. Again,selected patterns mean the patterns containing at least one of thepinned entities 1280 a, 1285 b. So the length of the second horizontalbar 520 indicates how many selected patterns contain a specific entity1280, 1285. This may help an analyst to identify a next most relevantentity 1280, 1285 with respect to the pinned entities 1280 a, 1285.

The left region 1230 is connected to right region 1235 by a central orlinking region 1240. The central or linking region 1240 may provideinformation about the subnetwork pattern associated with each row 1225.For example, a subnetwork pattern size indicator 1287 may be provided toidentify size of the subnetwork pattern identified. The subnetworkpattern size indicator 1287 (highlighted with a broken oval) mayindicate the number of entities of the first type in the right region1230 and a number of entities of the second type in left region 1235. Inthe example implementation illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, thesubnetwork pattern size indicator 1287 value of “3×4” may indicate thatsubnetwork pattern associated with the illustrated row 1225 includes 3entities of the first type in the left region 1230 and 4 entities of thesecond type in the right region 1235.

Additionally, in some implementations more entities of the first type1280 a, 1280 or the second type 1285 b, 1285 may be associated with asubnetwork pattern than can be displayed in the left and right regions1230, 1235 of the row 1225. In such implementations, the linking region1240 may provide user interface (UI) controls 1289, 1291 (highlightedwith broken ovals) associated with the left region 1230 and rightregions 1235 respectively. Each UI control 1289, 1291 may allowscrolling or toggling of the left and right regions 1230, 1235respectively, to display additional entities of the first type 1280 a,1280 or the second type 1285 b, 1285 that cannot be displayed. Each UIcontrols 1289, 1291 may also have page indicators 1295, 1297. The pageindicator 1295 may indicate the current page of entities 1280 a, 1280being displayed in the left region 1230. Additionally, in some exampleimplementations, the page indicator 1295 may also indicate the totalnumber of pages of entities 1280 a, 1280 available. In the exampleimplementation illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the page indicator 1295value of “1/1” may indicate that currently page number “1” of a total ofone available pages is displayed in the left region 1230.

Similarly, the page indicator 1297 may indicate the current page ofentities 1285 b, 1285 being displayed in the right region 1235.Additionally, in some example implementations, the page indicator 1297may also indicate the total number of pages of entities 1285 b, 1285available. In the example implementation illustrated in FIGS. 12A and12B, the page indicator 1297 value of “1/1” may indicate that currentlypage number “1” of a total of one available pages is displayed in theright region 1235.

Additionally, though not illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12B, other exampleimplementations of the UI 1200 may also provide an information panel, anoverview, and a toolbar, similar to the information panel 310, overviewregion 315, and toolbar 320 of the UI 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 anddiscussed above.

EXAMPLE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

FIG. 13 illustrates an example computing environment 1300 with anexample computer device 1305 suitable for use in some exampleimplementations. Computing device 1305 in computing environment 1300 caninclude one or more processing units, cores, or processors 1310, memory1315 (e.g., RAM, ROM, and/or the like), internal storage 1320 (e.g.,magnetic, optical, solid state storage, and/or organic), and/or I/Ointerface 1325, any of which can be coupled on a communication mechanismor bus 1330 for communicating information or embedded in the computingdevice 1305.

Computing device 1305 can be communicatively coupled to input/userinterface 1335 and output device/interface 1340. Either one or both ofinput/user interface 1335 and output device/interface 1340 can be awired or wireless interface and can be detachable. Input/user interface1335 may include any device, component, sensor, or interface, physicalor virtual, which can be used to provide input (e.g., buttons,touch-screen interface, keyboard, a pointing/cursor control, microphone,camera, braille, motion sensor, optical reader, and/or the like). Outputdevice/interface 1340 may include a display, television, monitor,printer, speaker, braille, or the like. In some example implementations,input/user interface 1335 and output device/interface 1340 can beembedded with, or physically coupled to, the computing device 1305. Inother example implementations, other computing devices may function as,or provide the functions of, an input/user interface 1335 and outputdevice/interface 1340 for a computing device 1305.

Examples of computing device 1305 may include, but are not limited to,highly mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, devices in vehicles and othermachines, devices carried by humans and animals, and the like), mobiledevices (e.g., tablets, notebooks, laptops, personal computers, portabletelevisions, radios, and the like), and devices not designed formobility (e.g., desktop computers, server devices, other computers,information kiosks, televisions with one or more processors embeddedtherein and/or coupled thereto, radios, and the like).

Computing device 1305 can be communicatively coupled (e.g., via I/Ointerface 1325) to external storage 1345 and network 1350 forcommunicating with any number of networked components, devices, andsystems, including one or more computing devices of the same ordifferent configuration. Computing device 1305 or any connectedcomputing device can be functioning as, providing services of, orreferred to as a server, client, thin server, general machine,special-purpose machine, or another label.

I/O interface 1325 can include, but is not limited to, wired and/orwireless interfaces using any communication or I/O protocols orstandards (e.g., Ethernet, 802.11x, Universal System Bus, WiMAX, modem,a cellular network protocol, and the like) for communicating informationto and/or from at least all the connected components, devices, andnetwork in computing environment 1300. Network 1350 can be any networkor combination of networks (e.g., the Internet, local area network, widearea network, a telephonic network, a cellular network, satellitenetwork, and the like).

Computing device 1305 can use and/or communicate using computer-usableor computer-readable media, including transitory media andnon-transitory media. Transitory media includes transmission media(e.g., metal cables, fiber optics), signals, carrier waves, and thelike. Non-transitory media included magnetic media (e.g., disks andtapes), optical media (e.g., CD ROM, digital video disks, Blu-raydisks), solid state media (e.g., RAM, ROM, flash memory, solid-statestorage), and other non-volatile storage or memory.

Computing device 1305 can be used to implement techniques, methods,applications, processes, or computer-executable instructions in someexample computing environments. Computer-executable instructions can beretrieved from transitory media, and stored on and retrieved fromnon-transitory media. The executable instructions can originate from oneor more of any programming, scripting, and machine languages (e.g., C,C++, C #, Java, Visual Basic, Python, Perl, JavaScript, and others).

Processor(s) 1310 can execute under any operating system (OS) (notshown), in a native or virtual environment. One or more applications canbe deployed that include logic unit 1355, application programminginterface (API) unit 1360, input unit 1365, output unit 1370, patterndetector 1375, visualization generator 1380, entity identifier 1385,parameter adjustment engine 1390, and inter-unit communication mechanism1395 for the different units to communicate with each other, with theOS, and with other applications (not shown). For example, patterndetector 1375, visualization generator 1380, entity identifier receiver1385, and parameter adjustment engine 1390 may implement one or moreprocesses shown in FIGS. 2, 8, and 9. The described units and elementscan be varied in design, function, configuration, or implementation andare not limited to the descriptions provided.

In some example implementations, when information or an executioninstruction is received by API unit 1360, it may be communicated to oneor more other units (e.g., logic unit 1355, input unit 1365, patterndetector 1375, visualization generator 1380, entity identifier 1385,parameter adjustment engine 1390). For example, the pattern detector1375 may receive relationship data via the input unit 1365, and providethe detected subnetwork patterns to the visualization generator 1380.Additionally, in some example implementations, the entity identifier1385 may receive a content feature from the input unit 1365 and identifyentities based on the received content feature. The identified entitiesmay be provided to, and used by, the pattern detector 1375 to detectsubnetwork patterns based on the received content features in someembodiments. Once the pattern detector 1375 has detected one or moresubnetwork patterns, the detected subnetwork patterns may be provided tothe visualization generator 1385 to generate the visualization. Further,the parameter adjustment engine 1390 may control the visualizationgenerator 1385 and the pattern detector 1375 to update and modify thevisualization.

In some instances, the logic unit 1355 may be configured to control theinformation flow among the units and direct the services provided by APIunit 1360, input unit 1365, output unit 1370, pattern detector 1375,visualization generator 1380, entity identifier 1385, and parameteradjustment engine 1390 in some example implementations described above.For example, the flow of one or more processes or implementations may becontrolled by logic unit 1355 alone or in conjunction with API unit1360.

Although a few example implementations have been shown and described,these example implementations are provided to convey the subject matterdescribed herein to people who are familiar with this field. It shouldbe understood that the subject matter described herein may beimplemented in various forms without being limited to the describedexample implementations. The subject matter described herein can bepracticed without those specifically defined or described matters orwith other or different elements or matters not described. It will beappreciated by those familiar with this field that changes may be madein these example implementations without departing from the subjectmatter described herein as defined in the appended claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of visualizing relationship data in anetwork connecting an entity of a first type with an entity of a secondtype, the method comprising: detecting, within the network, a subnetworkpattern representing at least one relationship satisfying a condition,wherein the relationship data comprises a plurality of entities of thefirst type, a plurality of entities of the second type, and datarepresentative of a plurality of relationships, each relationshipconnecting an entity of the plurality of entities of the first type toeach entity of the plurality of entities of the second type; and whereinthe detecting the subnetwork pattern comprises detecting a plurality ofsubnetwork patterns satisfying the condition; and generating avisualization for display within a user interface based on the detectedsubnetwork pattern by: assigning a plurality of first node iconsrepresentative of the plurality of entities of the first type within afirst region comprising horizontal rows; assigning a plurality of secondnode icons representative of the plurality of entities of the secondtype within a second region comprising horizontal rows; defining alinking region represented by third node icons with each node positionedalong each horizontal row connecting the first and second regions whileproviding information about the at least one relationship satisfying thecondition in order to visualize maximal subnetworks within the network;wherein each node representative of an entity of the first type in thesubnetwork having a connecting relationship with each noderepresentative of an entity of the second type in the subnetwork.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each first node icon and each second nodeicon comprises: a first region representative of content associated withthe selected entity; and a second region representative of a number ofsubnetwork patterns selected from the detected plurality of subnetworkpatterns with which the selected entity is associated.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, further comprising: receiving an input command selecting asubset of subnetwork patterns of the detected plurality of subnetworkpatterns; and wherein the at least one node icon further comprises athird region representative of a number of the subset of subnetworkpatterns, which the selected entity is associated.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the at least one node icon further comprises a fourthregion having a graphical element associated with each relationshipwithin the detected plurality of subnetwork patterns with which theselected entity is associated.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thegraphical element associated with each relationship is arranged withinthe fourth region based on a relative weight associated with eachrelationship within the detected plurality of subnetwork patterns withwhich the selected entity is associated.
 6. The method of claim 2,wherein the first type of entity is representative of users of acommunication system; wherein the second type of entity isrepresentative of communications within the communication system; andwherein the linking region comprises information representative of anumber of entities of the first type and information representative of anumber of entities of the second type associated with each subnetworkpattern.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first region of the nodeicon includes a visual representation of data indicative of a contentfeature associated with the selected entity.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving an input signal identifying an entity ofeither the first type and the second type; and updating thevisualization based on the identified entity.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein the updating the visualization comprises at least one of:repositioning at least one row associated with a subnetwork patternrepresenting a relationship comprising the identified entity;repositioning at least one node icon associated with the identifiedentity.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each horizontal row, thethird node icon comprises controls to scroll or toggle the plurality offirst node icons in the first region and the plurality of second nodeicons in the second region of the respective horizontal row.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein at least one first node icon of a firsthorizontal row is vertically aligned with at least one first node iconof a second horizontal row, the first horizontal row being associatedwith a first of the plurality of detected subnetwork patterns satisfyingthe condition and the second horizontal row associated with a second ofthe plurality of detected subnetwork patterns satisfying the condition;and at least one second node icon of the first horizontal row isvertically aligned with at least one second node icon of the secondhorizontal row.
 12. A non-transitory computer readable medium havingstored therein a program for making a computer execute a method ofvisualizing relationship data in a network connecting an entity of afirst type with an entity of a second type, the method comprising:detecting, within the network, a subnetwork pattern representing atleast one relationship satisfying a condition, wherein the relationshipdata comprises a plurality of entities of the first type, a plurality ofentities of the second type, and data representative of a plurality ofrelationships, each relationship connecting an entity of the pluralityof entities of the first type to each entity of the plurality ofentities of the second type; and wherein the detecting the subnetworkpattern comprises detecting a plurality of subnetwork patternssatisfying the condition; and generating a visualization for displaywithin a user interface based on the detected subnetwork pattern by:assigning a plurality of first node icons representative of theplurality of entities of the first type within a first region comprisinghorizontal rows; assigning a plurality of second node iconsrepresentative of the plurality of entities of the second type within asecond region comprising horizontal rows; defining a linking regionrepresented by third node icons with each node positioned along eachhorizontal row connecting the first and second regions while providinginformation about the at least one relationship satisfying the conditionin order to visualize maximal subnetworks within the network; whereineach node representative of an entity of the first type in thesubnetwork having a connecting relationship with each noderepresentative of an entity of the second type in the subnetwork. 13.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein eachfirst node icon and each second node icon comprises: a first regionrepresentative of content associated with the selected entity; and asecond region representative of a number of subnetwork patterns selectedfrom the detected plurality of subnetwork patterns with which theselected entity is associated.
 14. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 13, further comprising: receiving an input commandselecting a subset of subnetwork patterns of the detected plurality ofsubnetwork patterns; and wherein the at least one node icon furthercomprises a third region representative of a number of subset ofsubnetwork patterns, which the selected entity is associated.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the atleast one node icon further comprises a fourth region having a graphicalelement associated with each relationship within the detected pluralityof subnetwork patterns with which the selected entity is associated. 16.The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein thegraphical element associated with each relationship is arranged withinthe fourth region based on a relative weight associated with eachrelationship within the detected plurality of subnetwork patterns withwhich the selected entity is associated.
 17. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 13, wherein the first type of entity isrepresentative of users of a communication system; wherein the secondtype of entity is representative of communications within thecommunication system; and wherein the linking region comprisesinformation representative of a number of entities of the first type andinformation representative of a number of entities of the second typeassociated with each subnetwork pattern.
 18. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 17, wherein the first region of the node iconincludes a visual representation of data indicative of a content featureassociated with the selected entity.
 19. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 12, further comprising: receiving an inputsignal identifying an entity of either the first type and the secondtype; and updating the visualization based on the identified entity. 20.A computer apparatus configured to visualize relationship data in anetwork connecting an entity of a first type with an entity of a secondtype, the computer apparatus comprising: a memory storing therelationship data comprising a plurality of entities of the first type,a plurality of entities of the second type, and data representative of aplurality of relationships, each relationship connecting an entity ofthe plurality of entities of the first type to an entity of theplurality of entities of the second type; a processor executing aprocess comprising: detecting, within the network, a plurality ofsubnetwork patterns, each of the plurality of subnetwork patternsrepresenting at least one relationship satisfying a condition, whereinthe detecting the subnetwork pattern comprises detecting a plurality ofsubnetwork patterns satisfying the condition; and generating avisualization for display within a user interface based on the detectedplurality of subnetwork patterns by: assigning a plurality of first nodeicons representative of the plurality of entities of the first typewithin a first region comprising horizontal rows; assigning a pluralityof second node icons representative of the plurality of entities of thesecond type within a second region comprising horizontal rows; defininga linking region represented by third node icons with each nodepositioned along each horizontal row connecting the first and secondregions while providing information about the at least one relationshipsatisfying the condition in order to visualize maximal subnetworkswithin the network; wherein each node representative of an entity of thefirst type in the subnetwork having a connecting relationship with eachnode representative of an entity of the second type in the subnetwork.